[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6123-S6124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 332

  Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, a truly amazing thing is happening in our 
Nation right now. The sitting Vice President is actually running for 
election by running from her record. After 35 months in office, she is 
promising change from her own administration.
  Her day one was actually January 2021, but she is trying to convince 
the American people that things are going to be different this time 
around. And it is not just that she is promising change for our 
country, it is that she says she herself has seemingly changed 
overnight. Just about every unpopular policy position imaginable that 
she has taken and been on the record supporting for years--well, now 
that she is up for election, she no longer believes those things.
  Let's just look at a sampling of policy positions that the Vice 
President has held. Let's start with energy and economic security. She 
supported enforcing an EV mandate that would take gas-powered vehicles 
off the road, ending offshore drilling, banning fracking, eliminating 
private health insurance, and raising taxes by trillions.
  But it doesn't stop there, and it just gets worse for public safety 
and border security. She supported decreasing funding for the police, 
abolishing ICE, decriminalizing illegal border crossings, ending the 
detention of illegal border crossers, giving taxpayer-funded benefits 
to illegal border crossers, defending sanctuary city policies, vowing 
to block all border wall funding, and even using taxpayer funds for 
gender transition surgeries for illegal aliens and Federal prisoners. 
These are some of the most radical positions it is possible to take, 
and that is why she was actually ranked as the most far-left Senator 
when she was a Member of this body.
  Now that she is President of the Senate, she is her party's nominee 
for President, and she is her party's leader. Again, she claims she has 
changed some of her own policy positions. So today we are going to give 
her party and the Chamber she leads an opportunity to prove whether 
that is true. To paraphrase the majority leader from his remarks 
yesterday, we are going to give our Democratic colleagues another 
chance to show the American people where they stand.
  We will start today with a few bills related to energy and border 
security, and we can continue this every day the Senate is in session 
moving forward. The American people will be watching, and I look 
forward to seeing what happens today.
  We are going to go ahead and start with the WALL Act. Last year, I 
introduced the WALL Act. This legislation is common sense and with a 
clear aim. It would appropriate funding needed to finish actually 
building a barrier on our southern border.
  And it would accomplish that without raising taxes and without adding 
to our national debt. For all of you in the Gallery, we are $35 
trillion in debt. That is not just fiscally irresponsible, that is 
morally irresponsible.
  And for the first time ever, we paid more money on the interest on 
our national debt than we did for our national defense. You can look, 
over time, in the moment that any nation does that, it begins to become 
a nation in decline.
  So I wanted to make sure that we had something that had a commonsense 
approach, and through the WALL Act, construction of a border wall would 
be funded by eliminating taxpayer-funded entitlements and tax benefits 
for illegal border crossers.
  The bill would also close loopholes that allow illegal border 
crossers to receive taxpayer-funded benefits intended for citizens and 
lawful residents.
  Finally, this legislation would impose fines on individuals who 
illegally enter the United States or overstay their visas. In 2018, the 
Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the tax components of this 
bill alone would save $33 billion over 10 years. Let's use these funds 
to build a border wall and to help keep Americans safe.
  So, today, we are giving Senate Democrats a very clear choice. Now, 
watch what happens next very closely. Let's see how they answer these 
questions. Do they support building a border wall or will they block 
building a border wall? Do they want to spend taxpayer funds on keeping 
American citizens and legal residents safe or do they want to keep 
those taxpayer funds funding illegal border crossers? Where does the 
Vice President's party stand on these very different policy positions?
  Well, we are about to find out.
  As if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 332 and the Senate proceed to immediate 
consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third 
time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  The President pro tempore.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, Border 
Patrol has very serious needs that actually need funding; namely, new 
technology, and we should focus on how we get those done in a 
bipartisan way.
  We have limited resources. We know a border wall is ineffective and 
really has no impact in preventing the cartels from bringing fentanyl 
into our country.
  I, for one, would prefer we direct those resources toward stopping 
fentanyl from getting to our communities through our ports of entry 
along the southwest border.
  No one should forget there was a bipartisan proposal on border policy 
changes earlier this year, one that Senate Republicans strongly 
endorsed, one that was, frankly, probably more conservative than I 
would have preferred.
  But instead of voting to so much as take it up for consideration, 
Republicans decided then that instead they wanted to campaign on the 
border, as they are attempting to do with this proposal, because one 
man, Donald Trump, told them: Kill the bill. Trump told Senate 
Republicans he wanted to let a fire burn so he can campaign on the 
ashes, and Senate Republicans said, yes, Mr. Trump.
  I think that history tells us how serious the effort before us today 
is, but just like when I built the bipartisan border funding bill with 
my ranking member Senator Collins, I do look forward to working with 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle on comprehensive immigration 
reform and serious solutions to the challenges we are facing at the 
border.

[[Page S6124]]

  The door is always open. Today, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, I see my colleague from Oklahoma here and 
would love to have the opportunity to hear about his bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.